


The Return of Abigail Morgan

by darklyndsea



Category: Forever (TV)
Genre: Blanket Permission, Cross-Generation Relationship, F/M, POV Outsider, jossed by 1x21
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2015-04-23
Packaged: 2018-03-25 09:22:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3805168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darklyndsea/pseuds/darklyndsea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucas, Jo, and Hanson react to the return of Henry's 94 year old wife.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Return of Abigail Morgan

The first Jo learned of it was when she went to fetch Henry for a case and found Lucas lurking in the hallway.

"I wouldn't go in there if I was you," Lucas warned as she went to open the door.

". . . Why?" Jo asked, afraid of the answer. Lucas and Henry snickered over too many disturbing things—and had gleefully thrust too many organs in her face—for her to not be worried about any situation bad enough that Lucas was hiding in the hall.

"Henry's girlfriend is visiting," Lucas said.

"Molly?"

"No, he broke up with her, like, right away. Didn't you know? No, I think she said her name was Abigail?"

"Abigail. _The_ Abigail?" Jo asked.

"Uh, maybe? Not sure what would qualify her to be the Abigail. But Henry seems to be into her. _Really_ into her. I've seen things I can't un-see, and they haven't even gotten to the main course yet, if you know what I mean."

"In the _morgue_?" Sure, Henry and Molly had probably—but that was _Molly_. What were the odds that Henry had found _another_ girlfriend who would—then again, anyone who could put up with Henry's strangeness . . .

"They're _really_ happy to see each other. No, wait—" he protested as Jo pushed the door open. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"

 

Jo froze, the door swinging shut behind her. Sure, Lucas had _said_ , but Lucas was prone to exaggeration. Not this time. Henry was getting hot and heavy—in the _morgue_. And judging by the complete lack of anyone else, it seemed that Lucas wasn't the only one who was concerned that it was going to go a bit farther than he was comfortable seeing.

Hearing her come in—which was something of a feat, considering how _occupied_ he was—Henry pulled away from his make-out session to turn toward Jo, his arms still around his partner. Jo couldn't catch a good view of her yet.

"Ah, detective!" Henry exclaimed. "I'd like you to meet Abigail. Abigail, this is Detective Jo Martinez, who has been kind enough to allow me to assist on her cases." To say that Abigail was nothing like what Jo had been expecting would be dramatically understating the case. Instead of a beautiful woman in her 30s, like Jo expected, Abigail was old. Older than Abe. But despite her age and her physical frailty, her eyes met Jo's, silently daring her to say something.

"Pleased to meet you," Jo said on auto-pilot, still too startled to do anything else. "Henry's told me almost nothing about you." He'd certainly never told her that his lost love was a senior citizen.

"Henry!" Abigail scolded lightly. "It's nice to meet you, Detective Martinez. I'm afraid I haven't heard a thing about you, either, but I've been out of contact for a while." Like Henry, she had a British accent.

"Please, call me Jo," Jo said. "Any girlfriend of Henry's . . ."

"Actually, Abigail's my wife," Henry corrected her immediately.

Jo's eyebrows shot up. "So you _are_ the infamous Abigail."

"Infamous?"

"You really broke Henry's heart," Jo said.

Henry and Abigail held each other closer. Henry looked like he would be upset, but his glee at Abigail's return kept breaking through any other emotions he had. "I had to," Abigail said. "Henry refused to accept the fact that I'm not always going to be there for him. And . . . I had to leave. For me."

"For you?"

"You think I don't know what people think of Henry and me? He might be good at denying reality, but I've always been a realist. The stares, the comments . . . with our age gap, nobody cared that we're both consenting adults. It didn't matter to them how rude their comments and stares were. Henry was always in denial, but after a while, I couldn't take it."

"So what's changed?" Jo asked. "I don't think people are going to be any less rude."

"Me," Abigail said. "I'm old. I don't have much time left. And at this point in my life, I find that I don't give a damn what other people think of us. I want to spend what little time I have left with the man who's already given me so much happiness."

 

"Hey, Lucas, is Henry in there?"

Lucas looked up from his graphic novel at the question. "Abe!" he exclaimed. "Uh, yeah, he's in there, but, uh . . ."

Abe made calming motions. "Don't worry about it, I already know about Abigail."

"You do?"

"Yeah, Henry called me as soon as she came in."

"Do you know her or something?"

"Do I know her?" Abe asked. "Of course! She's my mother." Before Lucas could process that, he pushed open the door and entered the room.

 

Hanson's steps slowed when he caught sight of Jo and Lucas. They had clearly settled in for an evening of heavy drinking, and the only thing that was likely to make the two of them drink at the same time was Henry. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what the M.E. had done this time.

"I just can't get over it," Lucas said. "I mean, she's so—"

"I _know_ , Lucas. I was there." Jo drank some of her beer contemplatively. "But they do make a cute couple, though, once you get over the shock."

"Once you get over the shock?" Lucas demanded. "How? Seriously, I do not think it is possible to get over that shock."

Jo fixed him with a glare. "You'd better get over it. They're both adults—"

"You can say _that_ again."

"—and they're going to get enough grief from everybody else over their relationship. They don't need you adding to it. Come on, when's the last time you've seen Henry this happy?"

"Uh, every time he gets to show off? Which is pretty much every day—okay, okay, you're right. I don't think I've ever seen him this happy. And I don't want to ruin it. It's just _weird_ , you know?"

Hanson seized the opportunity. "What's weird?"

"We met Henry's wife," Jo said casually. "Abigail."

"Wife? I thought he wasn't married. What, did he elope?"

"Ah, no," Jo said. "They were separated. And now she's back. Apparently for good."

"Well, that's good, right? Why do you guys look so upset? Is she a witch or something?"

"Don't ask me," Lucas said. "I mostly just saw her making out with Henry."

"She's perfectly nice." Jo glared pointedly at Lucas.

He relented. "Well, Henry likes her. That's got to mean something, right? I just, you know, don't know that personally because they were kind of attached at the lips."

"Just like that?" Hanson asked. "I didn't think separations usually ended that way."

"Yeah, well, it's Henry," Jo said. "He doesn't do anything else normally, why would you think he'd have a normal relationship?"

The way Lucas choked on his beer, Hanson was betting that was an understatement. "Come on, guys, what's got you acting so weird about this?"

They exchanged a glance. "You wouldn't believe us," Jo said.

"Besides, we had to experience it firsthand. It wouldn't be fair for you to get a warning."

 

"Sooo, Doc," Hanson said.

Henry looked up from the body he was examining. "Yes, what is it, Detective?"

"Everybody's freaking out about your wife returning," Hanson said. "Seems like kind of a big stink to me. I mean, normally it'd just be 'good for him' and move on."

"Is there a question in there?"

"Yeah, what's everybody freaking out about? They all seem to think I should see it firsthand or something, but if they're all still freaking out now I'm guessing it's something really weird? Or, uh, surprising, at least. I don't want to hurt your wife's feelings when I meet her, you know? But if it's that surprising maybe it'd be better if I had some warning."

Henry gave him a look full of surprise and a little bit of approval. The corner of his mouth turned up a little bit more, though it was a bit hard to tell since a smile had been glued on his face since his wife had returned. He'd been _humming_ when Hanson entered the OCME, for Christ's sake. Henry put down the scalpel and braced himself on the table. "Yes, that does seem logical," he said. "I suppose everyone is 'freaking out' because Abigail is older than they expected."

"They're freaking out because your wife's older than you?"

Henry seemed to brace himself for Hanson's reaction. "She's 94 years old," he said with a challenge in his voice.

"94?" Hanson asked dumbly. With anyone else he'd think he'd misheard, but with Henry . . . he'd given up on expecting Henry to do anything like a normal person. Yeah, it threw him for a loop, but he should know better by now than to expect Henry to have a normal marriage.

Henry started playing with that hunting knife of his, pretending he was going to use it on the current body. Yeah, right. Subtle, that was not. But then, when was Henry ever _subtle_?

"Uh, okay, that's gonna take a bit of getting used to," Hanson admitted awkwardly. "But you're both adults, so whatever. Glad you told me before I met her, though. I don't think it would have gone good if it was just sprung on me without any warning."

Some of the tension went out of Henry. Enough that he got a bit less crazy-eyed and looked less like he wanted to use that knife on Hanson. "Well. That's . . . about as good of a reaction as I could have expected." Hanson felt like he'd just kicked a puppy or something, seeing the look in Henry's eyes.

"Look, I'm happy for you," Hanson said. "Really! I'm just not, you know, uh—"

Henry gave him a look of exasperation and finally set down the knife. "Yes, I'm aware that the age difference is a bit of a shock. I do appreciate that you're making an effort to spare Abigail's feelings. Even an attempt is far more than most people manage."

 

Henry and Abigail swayed with the music, so wrapped up in each other that it was as if the rest of the world didn't exist for them.

Slouching in his chair at the table, Hanson lifted his glass and used it to point at the couple. "You know, when Henry told me his wife was 94 . . . but actually, they do make a nice couple. I wouldn't have thought it was possible."

"I know, right?" Lucas agreed. "They're so much in love, I think I'm getting cavities from it even though they're all the way over there."

Abe grinned. "Mom and Dad, back together at last. I never thought I'd see the day."

"I'm sorry, did you just say _Dad_?" Jo asked.

"Well, he is my stepdad," Abe replied.

"So you're cool with them being together?" Lucas asked. "I mean, that's your _mom_. And Henry. Isn't it a bit weird for you?"

Abe shrugged the concern off. "You're forgetting that I was around before they separated."

"So you've already had time to get used to it," Hanson concluded.

"As long as they're happy, I'm happy," Abe said. "The age difference is rough on both of them, but have you ever seen two people that were as deeply in love as they are?"

Across the room, Henry and Abigail gazed into each other's eyes, lost to the world.


End file.
